


guessing your trajectory

by helloearthlings



Series: In All Directions [2]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friendship, Jealousy, M/M, Miscommunication, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Neighbors, Pining, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 10:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15684051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helloearthlings/pseuds/helloearthlings
Summary: Five times Jack mistakenly assumed Sammy and Ben were dating, and one time he knew better.





	guessing your trajectory

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate POV/sequel/companion piece to that time Jack thought Sammy and Ben were a couple because of course he did. I love my repressed kids very much, though this piece was a bitch to work on especially because I meant for it to be way shorter. Since I'm the most long-winded person on this earth, it isn't. Hope you enjoy it, please drop me a comment if you do!!

**1.**

Ben Arnold, stupid fucking needlessly adorable Ben Arnold, shows up outside Jack’s apartment two days after they met in the hallway for the first time.

“Hey, Jack!” Ben says cheerily, reaching over to hug Jack despite the fact that they’ve met once. Jack hugs back, a little awkwardly, his mind racing – does Ben know who Jack is? Who he was to Sammy?

It doesn’t matter, Jack reminds himself forcefully. It doesn’t matter because even though the straight guy Jack had never been able to get over isn’t so straight after all, he has a perfectly lovely live-in boyfriend and Jack can’t be having those kinds of thoughts.

Even if Jack’s heart had literally stopped short and he’d stopped breathing the first time he saw Sammy Stevens after five years’ time, and maybe it was accompanied one or two dozen half-second romantic fantasies playing out in his mind’s eye.

But that obviously just didn’t matter anymore, because here’s Ben Arnold, tiny and enthusiastic and beaming who fits right under Sammy’s arm, who Sammy called his _partner._

“Hi, Ben,” Jack tries and probably fails not to be miserably awkward. “How’s it going?”

“I’m great, I was just wondering if you wanted to come to the bar down the street and grab a drink?” Ben asks as if he’s not asking the guy who was in love with his boyfriend for four years, and probably still _is_ in love with his boyfriend –

Nope. Jack’s not analyzing that. It’s fine, it’s cool, it’s chill, he’s repressing whatever this is even if he feels like he just ran a marathon or maybe has died and gone to some kind of purgatory designed especially to torture him.

“Oh,” Jack says, slowly, trying not to show how fucking insane he feels right now. “I mean – yeah, sure, is Sammy –?”

He assumes Sammy’s there, and also assumes Ben has no idea who Jack is. Why should he? If Sammy’s not straight, that means that he just rejected Jack for personal and emotional reasons. Why would Sammy’s current boyfriend know anything about some guy back in college who Sammy obviously never saw as more than just a friend?

“Of course,” Ben beams as if it’s barely a question. “We were getting beers with Troy after work – he lives on the top floor – and I was like hey, maybe I’ll go upstairs and see if Jack’s home! You’ve gotta meet Troy, dude, he’s awesome. And I’m sure you and Sammy have a ton of stuff to catch up on. I seriously can’t believe you had no idea he was here before you moved here! That’s like fate, man.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Jack huffs under his breath. God, Ben’s cute with his dark curls and baby face and eager attitude. Jack sees the appeal, as much as he doesn’t want to think like that.

He should turn Ben down, but Ben looks so cheerful and unassuming that Jack doesn’t know how to say no to him.

“Sure, that’d be great,” Jack says, and can’t help but smile a little when Ben pumps his fist.

“C’mon, it’ll be so fun,” Ben says as Jack grabs his jacket from the couch and his keys off the counter and starts following Ben down the stairs. “Troy probably drank Sammy under the table by now. I’m glad it’s not me, I’m the worst lightweight in the entire world. Last time we went out, Sammy had to practically carry me up the stairs. He tells me I need to stop drinking like I’m still in college and I tell him he needs to loosen up and let his hair down. Hasn’t happened yet, but at least his hair’s long enough to do it now!”

Ben cracks up at his own joke, and Jack smiles along with him.

“How long has he had that…” Jack gestures to the top of his head and Ben rolls his eyes.

“The hipster manbun monstrosity?” Ben snorts and Jack laughs. “Like a year. He’s been growing it out basically since we met – three years ago – and it’s getting ridiculous. Like, I love it and everything, but I also _kind of_ want to chop it off, or at least make him trim the split ends. He barely understands what conditioner is, and that’s only because I explained it to him.”

Jack wishes Ben was mean. If Ben was a mean and shitty boyfriend, Jack could spend all of his energy being petty and jealous, but he can’t, Ben’s so sweet.

“What did his hair look like when you knew him?” Ben says with a kind of shy smile. “He doesn’t really talk much about what he was doing before he met me.”

Jack’s feels something a little bit painful at the idea that once upon a time, he thought and Sammy were going to be friends for the rest of their lives, made plans for the future together, and now Sammy’s boyfriend has no idea who Jack is. It’s irrational, he knows things change and obviously so do people, but he can’t help but wish something was different.

“Bowl cut,” Jack says and startles a laugh out of Ben. “Horrible. Worse than anything going on now. He wanted to save money and cut it himself, which I told him was an awful idea. Now that I think about it, I think I cut it once…”

Jack’s mouth suddenly feels like lead as he remembers their shitty college apartment’s bathroom and how he’d snipped at Sammy’s hair with a pair of heavy-duty scissors and Sammy had said _oh God, you’re making it even more crooked,_ and they’d dissolved laughing.

“Teach me your ways, Obi-Wan,” Ben says solemnly before cracking up himself. “Sammy knows I’m after the mop top, he won’t sit still if there’s scissors anywhere nearby. I think he’s hidden the ones in our kitchen, but I’ll find them someday.”

They’ve made it down the stairs now, and are well on their way to the bar across the street. Jack’s quiet until they make it through the door, where his eyes find Sammy immediately in the crowd. Sammy’s eyes light up, but he’s not looking at Jack, he’s so clearly looking at Ben.

God, how could Jack even wish Ben was mean? Sammy deserves a good boyfriend, a _great_ boyfriend, it’s clear that he didn’t think Jack was up to the job, and honestly, that was fair.

“Hi!” Ben chirps, and his arm goes around Sammy’s shoulders when he gets to the table. Sammy looks over at Jack, half-smiles, looks twice as awkward as Jack feels, so at least they’re on the same page there.

“Nice you could join us tonight, Jack!” The man on Sammy’s other side, an extremely tall and well-muscled guy with sandy hair and a genial grin reaches over to shake Jack’s hand. “I’m Troy, I live on the fourth floor – so nice to make your acquaintance! I hear you knew Sammy back in your school days, and I gotta say, I’d love to hear an embarrassing story or two.”

“Me too!” Ben ruffles Sammy’s hair, giving Jack a knowing wink, and Jack quashes any kind of feeling he has about that at all.

Sammy seems to shrink a little as he glares at Ben, and he’s avoiding eye contact with Jack now. Oh, cool, maybe he regrets their friendship as a whole and not just the disastrous way it ended.

That’s….great.

“He’s not a very embarrassing person,” Jack starts, trying to deflect, and Sammy barks out a laugh. From the expression of surprise on his face, it looks like he was as surprised as Jack was that he’d said anything.

“Come on,” Sammy says, blushing a little, still not looking in Jack’s direction as he takes a long swig from his beer. “Tell them about the time we crashed your crappy Jeep.”

“You crashed a car?” Ben looks delighted, and Sammy’s looking at Ben with the kind of affection on his face that Jack can only dream of, and Jack’s going to get over this, he really is.

He’s going to get over this and be happy for Sammy and not be hung up on shit that happened years ago, because Jack should be better than that by now.

He launches into the story, and doesn’t fail to notice the way Ben’s arm doesn’t leave its place slung around Sammy’s neck.

**2.**

Jack takes comfort in the fact that Sammy and Ben’s love for one another is as blindingly obvious to everyone else as it is to him.

The building he lives in is a very friendly, genial place where everybody knows everybody, which is a little weird. Jack’s been pretty isolated for the past few years, always buried in work, so it’s nice and refreshing when there’s a get-together down the hall to go to where people seem genuinely excited when he says he’s going.

There’s a lovely older gay man upstairs who seems to take a liking to Jack, mostly platonic but with some occasional flirting, which Jack will never take him up on but always appreciates – his name is Archie Simmons and he breeds dogs, and has the biggest apartment in the building to cater to his dogs’ needs. He’s also campy as hell and Jack wishes Archie was his gay dad.

Archie, whenever referring to Sammy and Ben, always says “oh the _husbands_ downstairs will take care of that” or “oh, I’m sure Benny’s _husband_ is going to make sure that the little rascal gets that done” or “oh, Sammy’s little _husband_ is probably going to do that for him.”

“Are they actually married?” Jack asks in the stairwell after he helps Archie lug dog food up to his place, heart beating uncomfortably, wishing he’d bothered to take notice of any rings on any fingers.

“No,” Archie scoffs in response and heavy, glorious relief sweeps through Jack that he goes right to repressing. “They may as well be though, the way those two act. Always on their honeymoon, if you ask me. Makes me sick to my stomach how sweet they get. Benny’s always been so _touchy-feely_ with Sammy ever since he moved in. They didn’t say anything – but oh, it’s obvious they belong together, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” Jack says, and the worst thing is, he knows Archie’s right.

It keeps being confirmed for him, next with Cynthia from the first floor, the truest stereotype of soccer moms everywhere. Jack walks in on an argument she’s having with Ben in the hallway one afternoon about a month after he moves in.

“That boyfriend of yours is up to no good!” Cynthia’s brandishing a kitchen spoon in Ben’s direction, backing him out of her apartment. Ben’s got his hands up defensively, lights up when he sees Jack coming, and mouths _help!_

“What’s his boyfriend doing?” Jack sidles up behind Ben with a concerned look, but Ben makes a face as he shrugs.

“ _Sammy,”_ Ben says with a biting jab in Cynthia’s direction, “was just bringing home the groceries, and Cynthia here says it looks like he had a bag of cocaine.”

Jack blinks and tries to think of his straight-laced, anxiety-riddled Sammy Stevens that he remembers from school even approaching cocaine with a ten-foot pole. Even at his lowest moments, and Jack knew he’d been around for a few, did he ever do anything _that_ crazy.

Late twenties Sammy Stevens the radio host surely hasn’t change that much, and even from just knowing her a short period of time, Jack’s perfectly aware that Cynthia loves to gossip and embellish.

“Sure it wasn’t just baking soda, Cynthia?” Jack says slowly and then Cynthia brandishes the spoon in his direction and Jack takes a couple steps backward, Ben following suit, and Jack realizes that his hand is on Ben’s shoulder protectively.

“Oh, I’m sure! That Sammy Stevens has always been a no good troublemaker from the time you brought him into our lives, Ben!” Cynthia jabs the spoon at Ben and Ben winces, looking from Jack to Cynthia with fear in his eyes. “Not that I’m surprised or anything, you heathens.”

“Cynthia, I’ve known Sammy since he was eighteen, he’d never do cocaine or especially bring it into this building,” Jack says in a slow and measured voice, giving Ben a questioning and somewhat panicked look, as he’s not quite sure what’s going to calm her down. “He’s a good guy.”

Cynthia seems to relax slightly, or at least she lets the spoon fall to her side. She blinks up at Jack, and something in her expression seems to be softening. “Well. If you say so, Jackie.”

Oh, no. She’s looking at him with sultriness, her hip’s jutting out to one side when it wasn’t before, and then the fucking nickname, and Jack’s going to combust.

“Right, yeah, Ben, you wanna come upstairs with me?” Jack hopes his panic is palpable to Ben. “We can smoke cocaine or something.”

“You two –” Cynthia starts bitingly but Jack grabs the back of Ben’s coat and hurries them up the staircase, hoping Cynthia’s kids will distract her from marching after them and giving them a talking-to, which Jack is certain he’ll never recover from.

“Oh my God, thank you,” Ben says as they get up to the second floor, shuddering. “I mean, not for the last comment, she’s totally going to report us to management, but she’s reported everyone in this goddamn building at some point or other.”

“Good to know,” Jack says with raised eyebrows. “Though I’m slightly terrified that she seemed to be flirting with me for a second there.”

“Dude, don’t be, she flirts with me all the time whenever she’s not – well, pissed at Sammy,” Ben says, hiding a half-smile. “But she’s mostly harmless, and it means she’s less likely to jump down your throat. But she and Sammy have never liked each other because Sammy just can’t even pretend to deal with her…well, everything.”

“Sounds like Sammy,” Jack says, and hopes it doesn’t sound as much like yearning as he feels.

Though he doesn’t necessarily trust Cynthia’s judgment, and knows Archie’s a gossip, it’s finally really cemented for him when Jack’s at dinner at Troy and Loretta’s and Troy, the most genuine, honest, and good-hearted man he knows says “Well, I’m sure Sammy would’ve come tonight, but little Benny’s got a cold.”

“Aw,” Loretta responds, touching a hand to her heart, because of course Ben is just that lovable. “Poor guy.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Sammy’s being a complete worry-wart,” Troy says with a fond grin. “Always acts just like Benny’s husband when Ben’s sick, doting on him and all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben’s pretending just to get fussed over.”

Jack knows Troy wouldn’t joke about something like that, or be mean for the sake of it. He eats his dinner and tries not to show that he’s lost any hope of reconnecting with Sammy meaningfully again, at least in the way that Jack wishes he could.

**3.**

Jack comes home way too late from work one night to find Ben pounding on the door to his apartment, wearing sweatpants and a worn t-shirt, with red-ringed eyes that look just the slightest bit wet.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Jack asks, forgetting his tiredness and putting a hand on Ben’s shoulder, casting a concerned gaze at the apartment.

“Sammy locked the door in my face,” Ben says with a little snuffle, and God, he’s so sweet Jack just feels bad for him, and kind of like he wants to fight Sammy over it, which is just plain stupid. But it’s impossible not to love Ben.

“I’m sorry, buddy, what happened?” Jack asks, putting a hand on Ben’s shoulder without thinking about it.

Ben leans into the touch and Jack suddenly finds himself being hugged. Huh. Ben really is a pretty touchy-feely kind of guy.

“A lot of little stuff,” Ben says, and Jack sees that his face is turning red. “Embarrassing shit I don’t want to repeat.”

“Little stuff isn’t a good reason to leave you stranded,” Jack says, thinking that although Sammy can have a bit of a temper if riled up enough, he can’t imagine anything that Ben would do to piss him off like that.

And Sammy was more of a freezing someone out kind of angry rather than a heat and fire and brimstone kind of angry. Jack knows all too well.

“It’s okay,” Ben says, wiping at his eyes as he lets go of Jack. “I’m literally crying for no good reason, I just don’t like it when people are pissed at me, I don’t handle it well. Thanks for letting me get snot on you.”

“It’s okay,” Jack says, something way too protective in his chest, both of Sammy and Ben. They shouldn’t be fighting. “It happens to everybody sometimes. You can – crash on my couch, you know. If you want to.”

Jack really shouldn’t do this to himself, but thankfully Ben shakes his head with a little smile.

“Sammy’s a big old softie, he’ll let me back in in like, fifteen minutes tops,” Ben says, an affectionate smile on his face even though he and Sammy are fighting. “I’ll knock later if he’s still not opening up, but like…this is a really stupid argument that we blew out of proportion.”

Jack doesn’t ask what it’s about because he doesn’t want to know, is better off not knowing.

What he does know is that he hates the idea of Sammy and Ben fighting. He just wants Sammy to be happy, and it seems like he really is with Ben.

Jack’s not going to make the same mistakes he has in the past – he’s going to try his best to be Sammy’s friend again, and not bring up any pesky feelings that are getting in the way.

Sammy and Ben both deserve that from him.

He runs into Sammy himself at the deli the next day, alone for a change – Jack doesn’t think he’s ever seen Sammy without Ben tied to his hip and under his shoulder, and Jack doesn’t even overthink going over to him to check on him.

“Hey, is everything alright?” Jack asks after their obligatory awkward hello where they pretend they’re not in debilitating embarrassment every second they spend together. “I ran into Ben in the hall last night.”

Sammy winces. “Damn. I’m sure he talked shit about me.”

“No, no,” Jack shakes his head. “He didn’t, he just said you fought about something stupid. I just wanted to make sure you were both doing okay. I told him he could knock on my door if you didn’t let him back in…”

There’s a vaguely panicked look on Sammy’s face for half a second, but then it’s gone and Jack thinks that maybe he imagined it.

“I wasn’t the bad guy!” Sammy says a little defensively. “I… _overreacted_. But he hadn’t done his laundry in three weeks and I’m not doing it for him –”

Jack starts to laugh. “That was about _laundry?_ You made him cry over _laundry?_ Dude, you’re totally the bad guy here.”

“I let him back inside after ten minutes!” Sammy says. “We fought about other stuff too, that was just what set me off.”

“What, did you list all of your separate chores out one by one to bitch about?” Jack can’t help but giggle at the image. “I didn’t realize you and Ben dealt with your problems like you and Lily used to.”

“Ben and I are way better at forgiving each other,” Sammy corrects quickly. “I won’t defend myself against the bitching, because it’s true. But if Lily and I argued about the laundry, it would be a three week debacle where we used you as our messenger carrier pigeon so as never to speak face to face. Ben and I yell for ten minutes, and then we apologize. Like adults.”

“I think you need to adult a little better then,” Jack feels almost like old times when Sammy flips him off, even if their conversation fizzles awkwardly after that and Jack gets out of the deli because he feels a little like he’s on fire.

He really does want what’s best for Sammy, at the end of it all, and it’s blindingly obvious that what’s best for Sammy is Ben.

And that’s….fine.

Really. It is.

Jack’s repressing all of the other feelings that could possibly contradict that, which is okay and cool and great and chill and totally, totally fine.

**4.**

Jack’s not sure why all of his new friends in New York are all in his apartment building, but it’s either that or make friends at work and the building has really decided to go all-out when it comes to making meaningful relationships with Jack. He and Troy go to the gym together more days than not, he helps Mary and Tim Jensen down the hall when their kids start making too much noise, he takes care of Archie’s dogs for him, and of course, there’s Sammy and Ben, and Jack doesn’t know what his relationship with either of them is but he knows it’s important.

But unfortunately, his new friends all being in the building means that they all know Sammy and Ben a little better than Jack does. Well, Jack would like to think he knows a side of Sammy that no one else does, but SammyandBen the entity, the building knows them all too well, and Jack often gets little tidbits of gossip.

Jack gets invited to Ben’s birthday party, which Troy is throwing as a surprise party at the bar down the street, and he walks in late to find at least three quarters of the building all milling around. Ben’s the center of attention, with a party hat and streamers around his shoulders.

Sammy’s next to him, Ben’s leaning against him, Jack goes to get a fucking drink.

He needs to get better at this. All of his friends are here, his social circle, it would be great if he could get over this petty jealousy and just focus on being friends with SammyandBen the couple, not the Sammy from five years ago that only lives in Jack’s head, and Ben on his own. It would be best for all of them if Jack could just get over his awkwardness, tell Sammy he was happy for him, and move the fuck on to being his friend.

He couldn’t do it five years ago, but he should have grown up enough to be able to do it now.

He finds an empty seat at a table with the Jensens and a man he doesn’t know. Mary greets him enthusiastically with a hug and says “And have you met Ron yet? Ron doesn’t live in the building, but he’s a great friend of Ben’s.”

 “You must be Jack Wright – Sammy’s friend, right?” Ron says, reaching over to shake his hand.

“Yeah,” Jack says, a little gobsmacked that Ron knows who he is, that presumably Sammy called Jack his friend. Well, maybe Ben called Jack Sammy’s friend, Jack has no way to know for sure, but he feels warm and welcome at being included. “How do you know Ben?”

 “Little Benny Arnold grew up four doors down from me,” Ron says with a rueful shake of his head. “I watched him constantly when his mom was at work. Clearly hasn’t grown much since then!”

He yells this out into the crowd, and Jack can hear Ben yell “Fuck off!” even if he can’t see him over the heads of all the people in the bar who are taller than him.

It attracts Sammy’s attention though, and Jack sees him approaching the table with a big grin at Ron and then a quickly flashing apologetic smile at Jack that Jack thinks he probably imagined.

“Hey Ron,” Sammy says, and Ron pulls Sammy into a gruff hug that Sammy returns with no small amount of affection. “Nice drive down from upstate?”

“I hate the fucking traffic in this city and can’t believe anyone wants to live here,” Ron says promptly. “But sure. How’s the birthday boy doing?”

“Well on his way to wasted,” Sammy says with an affectionate roll of his eyes as he looks behind him where Ben is stumbling through the crowd greeting his friends. “I’m recruiting you to help me carry him home.”

“Ron’ll be more successful at that than you,” Mary Jensen pokes Sammy’s shoulder. “You’re lucky Ben’s so small or you’d never manage it on your own.”

“Ben’s just lucky he has someone who’ll make the attempt,” Ron slaps Sammy on the back and Sammy rubs his shoulder in mock-pain. “I’ll never forget the day he called me and said that the best guy in the whole world was his cohost on the radio. You really made his life a better place, Stevens.”

“I’ll never forget when Sammy moved in,” Mary laughs, Sammy blushes, Jack takes an extremely long drink. “Ben was practically vibrating out of his skin he was so excited! I mean, that old roommate of his was a lecher – what his name again, Chet? He was three times Ben’s age and brought strippers home every night of the week.”

“Chet Sebastian,” Sammy says, his lips twitching. “We actually see him pretty often, he works on the floor above us – Ben hides behind me when we see him coming down the hall.”

“Anyway,” Mary says, tipping her beer in Sammy’s direction. “Ben was so happy when you moved in, Sammy. Kept saying how great it was going to be to have you within yelling distance at all times.”

“That sounds like Ben,” Sammy says, and God, he looks happy. How could Jack be jealous of that?

“C’mere, birthday boy!” Ron calls out over the crowd and Ben bounds up, clearly already halfway to hammered, and he seems to burrow into Sammy’s side the second he gets to the table. Sammy’s arm his around him, and Ben’s hand reaches up and their fingers are interlocked. Oh, cool, Jack definitely didn’t need to see that.

Sammy looks a little embarrassed, at least, and disentangles himself from Ben to sit Ben down in an empty chair when Ben looks like he’s possibly a little too dizzy to stand on his own.

“How’s it going, guys?” Ben asks, his words jumbled only slightly. He puts an arm around Mary, who leans into him laughingly. “I had a Long Island Iced Tea so I’m feeling _great_.”

“It takes so little time to get you drunk,” Sammy says, shaking his head, but there’s no bite to his words.

“It’s because he’s so small,” Ron reaches across the table to pat Ben’s head in mock-condescension, and Ben wrinkles his nose and pushes Ron away.

“Jack, defend me,” Ben reaches across the table, his hand poking at Jack’s chest, and Jack pushes him off laughingly.

“I think I’m the tallest person here, I’m the last person you should be coming to for defense,” Jack jokes. “Recruit Mary to your cause.”

“I’m an inch taller than him,” Mary says smugly, elbowing Ben’s side. “I like that fact way too much to defend him.”

“At least Troy the gentle giant isn’t here,” Ben says sulkily, but then looks out into the crowd. “Hey, Troy! Troy!”

Ben starts to stand, stumbles slightly, and it’s Sammy who catches his elbow and pulls him upright, laughing.

Jack finishes his drink, and decides this is the last night he’s going to let himself be jealous. Tomorrow, he’s going to be a new man, one who is going to learn from his mistakes and not do anything stupid no matter how badly he may want to.

Fuck. He really does want to do something – but he can’t. He can’t ruin that affectionate look on Sammy’s face as he helps a stumbling Ben across the room to greet Troy. He can’t ruin that enthusiastic and drunk and stupid and wonderful Ben Arnold’s life either.

He just – can’t.

**5.**

He’s obviously still jealous, of course, but only for another week, because that’s when Jack sees something he knows will talk him out of any awful, bad romcom scenario he dreams about.

He’s leaving the apartment for the day, had just stopped at his mailbox to make sure there’s nothing pressing in it, but the second he steps out the door, he sees Sammy and Ben standing on a street corner.

They’re probably walking to work – Jack knows the radio station they work at is only ten or so blocks from here – but they’re waiting for the light to change. Sammy’s looking down at Ben and he’s got that look on his face that Jack knows so well, like he’s saying something sarcastic and biting and snarky but still endlessly fond.

Ben’s laughing, and he reaches up, his hands cupping Sammy’s face, and for just one second, Jack thinks they’re going to kiss.

But Ben just brushes Sammy’s messy hair out of his face, and Sammy pushes him away in the next second, and they’re both poking at each other now, but all Jack can think about is how tender that moment was, just for one second.

He’s not jealous anymore. He really is just – happy. He tries to think of the Sammy he knew and if he ever looked like that – he’d certainly never looked at Jack like that.

Jack’s alright with that. Sammy deserves this – and Jack clearly wasn’t going to be the one to give it to him. And Ben – God, Ben’s perfect, of course he’d be the one to make Sammy Stevens fall in love. That was nature taking its course.

Jack walks to his subway stop, and decides that he really has to tell Sammy how happy he is for him, no matter how awkward that conversation may be. Because Jack really does want to be his friend again, be friends with SammyandBen, be close even if it’s not as close as he dreamed of all those years ago, still dreams of now.

Not anymore, though.

**+1.**

Alright, so maybe Jack’s a fucking idiot, but he’s not a mind reader, and if Sammy and Ben didn’t want people to assume they were a couple, they shouldn’t goddamn act like one all the time.

He’s not actually very mad about it. It’s quite funny, other than the six months he spent in constant misery and repression of his feelings. But he’s not doing either of those things anymore, and it’s very funny in retrospect because of just how disgusted they both look at the idea of sleeping with each other.

How was Jack supposed to know that Ben was just that affectionate? Or that most of the residents of the building either wanted them to get together, made homophobic comments about them getting together, or made fun of the fact that everyone thought they were together by continuing to spread the rumor?

Or that Sammy and Ben just did a lot of boyfriend things for each other? Like cutting hair and doing dishes and carrying each other home drunk? Or just doing an inordinate amount of cuddly touching in public?

(The only time Jack thinks someone should've taken pity and pointed him in a more accurate direction was when he found Ben crying in the hallway – apparently, the fight had started because Ben’s on again off again friend with benefits Pete Meyers had been the one to leave the laundry in the apartment. And Sammy hated Pete Meyers. If Ben had said something then it would’ve saved Jack a lot of time and heartache. But apparently Pete Meyers was such an embarrassing person Ben didn’t even want to admit it out loud.)

But other than that instance, it’s obviously not Sammy and Ben’s fault that Jack assumed – Jack knows now that they really are SammyandBen, just a very platonic SammyandBen who see other people as long as the other person knows it’s a package deal. 

Which Jack very much knows. And likes. A lot.

Because it means that Sammy can be happy, have Ben in his life and always at his side –

But Jack can also be there. And in the few weeks since Jack figured all this shit out and stopped repressing everything resembling an emotion toward Sammy, he’s realized just how badly he _always_ wants to be in Sammy’s life after so much missed time.

In a decidedly less platonic way than Ben is in his life, though. Which really works for Jack, honestly.

He barely blinks when he stumbles out of Sammy’s bedroom mid-morning one Saturday and finds Ben curled up next to Sammy on the couch, leaning against his chest and playing with his hair.

“You’re in my spot,” Jack deadpans in Ben’s general direction before moving to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee.

“We can share,” Ben yawns, obviously very sleepy. Sammy looks up to roll his eyes in Jack’s direction, soft and affectionate. Jack’s never going to get used to Sammy looking at him like that.

“We’re just lucky he has a girlfriend or he’d be in our bedroom half the time,” Sammy says, and Jack’s heart might skip a beat when he says _our_ like Jack’s already an unquestioned part of this little ecosystem of SammyandBen, where he desperately hopes to have a place forever.

“Emily’s going on vacation next month,” Ben says, one of his hands curling around Sammy’s hoodie string. “You’ll have to make room then.”

“I don’t know if he’s joking or not,” Sammy says with a long-suffering sigh and Ben elbows his stomach. They hit each other for a couple minutes as Jack watches, thinking of how lucky he is as he pours his coffee.

He heads over to the couch with two mugs, passing one to Ben without a word. Ben grins at him and starts to down it.

Sammy blinks, puppy dog eyes very much trained on Jack. “Where’s _my_ coffee? You’re supposed to be _my_ boyfriend.”

“Then come here,” Jack says, pulling Sammy against him and away from Ben, and Ben stops drinking his coffee to let out a loud whine at the loss of contact.

Sammy, head on Jack’s shoulder, playing with his hand for a second before prying his coffee cup away to take a sip for himself.  

“Don’t take my platonic life partner away from me!” Ben says, tugging at Sammy’s sleeve. Sammy brushes him off in favor of continuing to drink his coffee. "You might be his boyfriend, and you might have been his friend first, but I still have rights!"

“I couldn’t take him away tried,” Jack snorts. “Also, Emily and I have decided that we’re going to start being as nauseating as the two of you so you know how it feels like. We’re already the assumed couple when we go out together, we may as well make it official.”

“It’s because you’re both so pretty,” Ben says, batting at Jack’s face with a laugh, and Jack ducks out of the way.

“And because the two of you are disgustingly romantic,” Jack says and they both make faces at him.

“Misinterpreted platonic affection,” Sammy corrects as Ben says, straight-faced, “I honest to God think I’m straight after spending too long with him because I can’t fathom attraction to men anymore.”

Ben’s smile gets decidedly shit-eating as Sammy glares at him without any bite. “Luckily you’re here now, Jack, so I’ll never forget how much I like guys ever, ever again.”

“Stop flirting!” Sammy shoves Ben’s shoulder as Ben and Jack high-five, Jack trying to hide a blush.

“You guys can flirt with Emily whenever you want,” Ben says smugly as if that shuts the conversation down, and both Jack and Sammy roll their eyes.

“Tempting,” Sammy says sardonically as Jack says “What are you talking about? Emily and I have clearly already been dating for weeks.”

 “Alright, it’s time for us to go,” Sammy rolls his eyes and takes Jack’s hand, moves as if he’s about to pull them up, but Ben groans at them dramatically.

“C’mon, you can’t go yet! Jeopardy is starting, it’s your favorite,” Ben says, reaching for the remote to the television. “We can all play against each other. I’ll keep score.”

“By that I’m sure you mean that Jack and I can play against each other and you can lose,” Sammy corrects.

“Yeah, obviously,” Ben says, but not without affection. He turns the volume up as the opening music plays and Sammy settles back down against Jack’s side, still drinking his coffee. Jack lets him but only because he loves him – not that he’s said that yet, not this time around, but he’s sure that Sammy knows.

Jack runs a hand through Sammy’s hair as Ben kicks at Sammy’s feet whenever he thinks he knows an answer to something (spoiler alert: he rarely does) and thinks about how right this feels.

This time around is going to be better. Already is so much better.


End file.
